Bill Ruef admits that Some Nerve Brewing is an odd name. But it's growing on him.

Bill and his wife, Jessica Murray-Ruef, spent a significant amount of time looking for a name for their new endeavor. It was Jessica who coined Some Nerve, as in "we have some nerve opening a brewery."

That seemed about right considering everything that went into opening the 3-barrel brewery at 5586 Highway 51 in Manitowish Waters.

It took some nerve for the couple to pack up their home in the rolling pastures of New Glarus and move almost 300 miles away. They traded in one tourist town for another, swapping Green County's all-things-cheese for Vilas County's robust love of cranberries. Bill's family had been vacationing in the Manitowish Waters area since the 1990s, and he and Jessica had been visiting the area for almost two decades.

It took some nerve to set up a 36-seat taproom at the edge of the Northwoods where he and Jessica brew and serve a selection of beers with names like Cream Abdul-Jabbar Cream Ale, Geronimo Jackson IPA, Idris E.S.B. and Maxwell's Silver Amber.

It took some nerve for Bill to sell his New Glarus business — Ruef's Meat Market — to finance a brewery. Jessica works remotely as a scheduler for the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics system.

On an early fall day, a handful of visitors bellied up to the taproom bar with its picture window view of the woods obscured only by the many bird feeders the couple fills often. With a little prodding, Bill told the story (customers always ask) of how he and Jessica came to own a brewery.

While living in New Glarus, the couple would spend their weekends in different parts of the state enjoying brewery tours. Jessica thought they absorbed enough information to try brewing beer on their own. Bill resisted, a little.

"I cooked for a living, so I don't want to do that on weekends," he told her. "But I'll help and I want to name some beers." Names are a thing for them.

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They were both inspired and undaunted by the local competition: New Glarus Brewing. Friends and family seemed to like the beer the couple brewed and they liked making beer enough that they had 36 cases stacked in the garage. But when they decided to open a brewery, they wanted to open it in a place where they felt most relaxed.

Bill and Jessica closed on the brewery on Christmas Day 2017. For every question they had, they also had one constant: They knew they wanted a taproom but they didn't want to serve food. They wanted the feel of Tribute Brewing in nearby Eagle River — a place for brews and conversation, tasting and savoring, and the occasional growler fill.

Some Nerve opened in June 2018, in time to take advantage of the area's popular tourist draws such as the Manitowish chain of 10 lakes or the 40 miles of paved trails for cyclists and walkers. Drive along Highway 51 and the resort signs go by in a blur: Alderwood Resort, Timber Lodge Resort, Voss' Birchwood Lodge and more.

Traffic slows down after Labor Day, but visitors return for Cran-A-Rama, Manitowish Waters' celebration of fall colors and the cranberry harvest.

Winter is all about guided snowmobile tours when the trails open, usually in mid-December. A trail runs in front of the brewery, and Some Nerve is included on the Chamber of Commerce distributed snowmobile map.

For beer lovers, Some Nerve joins a growing collection of breweries and taprooms to visit in the area: Tribute in Eagle River, Rocky Reef in Woodruff or, a little farther afield, Sawmill Brewing Co., a brewpub and microbrewery in Merrill.

Some Nerve is open from 3 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and 1 to 9 p.m. Saturday. The hours are flexible. Check Some Nerve's Facebook and Instagram pages for updates.